Simple recipes for making blueberry jam for the winter
Bilberry is a berry that grows abundantly in taiga forests on small bushes. It is healthy and rich in vitamins and minerals. It contains a lot of vitamin C, which makes it especially valuable. It also helps with certain diseases. It is popularly believed that if you regularly eat this berry, you can correct your impaired vision. Therefore, in those areas where it grows, each housewife tries to stock up on blueberry jam for the winter. And each has its own recipe, passed down from generation to generation.
Features, pros and cons of blueberry jam
Before preparing blueberry confiture, it is useful to understand what are the advantages of this product and what are its disadvantages.
What is the difference between jam and other berry preparations? If for jam it is important that the berries or fruits remain intact in it, then for jam, on the contrary, the more homogeneous the mass, the better. Therefore, it is easier to cook it.
Pros of blueberry jam:
- Prepared in one go. If you do not need to care about the integrity of the berries, you can allow a violent and prolonged boil.
- All berries are suitable for the preparation of this delicacy - overripe, crumpled and not fully ripe. They will boil up and mix anyway.
- In winter, it is convenient to spread on a slice of bread, without worrying that the mass may spread.
- Can be used in baked goods.
- Nutrients are not destroyed during cooking.
The disadvantages include the duration of cooking and the boilability of berries by half or more. Also, the risk of burning jam is significantly higher than that of jam.
Preparation of the main ingredient
The requirements for preparing blueberries are the same as for other berries:
- Sort the collected raw materials from leaves and forest debris.
- Rinse under the tap or fill with water and drain immediately so that the juice does not go into the water.
- If you come across spoiled berries, it is better to remove them so as not to spoil the taste of the finished product.
- Pour blueberries into a bowl with a thick bottom and put on low heat so that the berry slowly steamed and let the juice flow.
For the preparation of delicacies, it is better that the berries are a little overripe. In this case, they are more saturated with useful substances, and the jam is tastier. Therefore, do not rush too much to pick the berry, let it ripen well.
How to make blueberry jam at home
There are many recipes for blueberry jam. Each is good in its own way and has its own unique taste. When the year is fruitful, there are several ways to make a blueberry treat.
A simple recipe for the winter
Most housewives just prefer to boil the berry well with sugar. To do this, take:
- Blueberries - 1 kg.
- Sugar - 0.5 kg.
The jam will burn less if you first boil the berry until thick and then add sugar. Readiness is determined with a spoon. It should drain off the spoon in a thin stream. Pour the finished jam into sterile jars and roll up.
"Five minutes"
It is very convenient to cook five-minute instant jam. It is cooked only five minutes after boiling, and thanks to this, all useful substances are preserved in it.
Ingredients:
- Blueberries 1 kg.
- Sugar 0.5 kg.
The prepared berry is chopped with a blender. The mass is poured into a bowl with a thick bottom, sugar is added and mixed well. Then put on fire and bring to a boil. Spotted for five minutes, removed from the fire and poured into jars.
The disadvantage of this delicacy is that it is not stored for long, it needs to be eaten in a month, so it is prepared in small quantities.
Without cooking
You can make blueberry jam without boiling. To do this, the berries are not washed, or washed and then dried.
Ingredients used:
- Blueberries - 1 kg.
- Sugar - 2 kg.
The berries are thoroughly chopped with a blender and ground with sugar. The resulting mass is heated to a temperature of 85 degrees, poured into sterile jars and rolled up. Such preparations retain the taste of summer and all the healing properties.
In a multicooker
You can make a treat in a multicooker. To do this, fill in all the ingredients and set the "Baking" mode for half an hour. Then switch to "Stew" and cook the jam for another hour. Ingredients can be selected different for every taste.
With gelatin
Ingredients:
- blueberries - 1 kg;
- sugar - 0.5 kg;
- gelatin - 1 pack.
Jam with gelatin is thick and cooks quickly. To do this, dissolve instant gelatin in water and add to the jam 20 minutes after boiling. Then cook for another 15 minutes. The foam must be removed during cooking.
With pectin
Pectin is a jam thickener sold in powder form. It can significantly reduce the cooking time. It is added to blueberry jam 20-30 minutes after boiling and boiled a little more.
Ingredients:
- blueberries - 1 kg;
- sugar - 0.5 kg;
- pectin powder - 1 pack.
This jam keeps well, but it needs to be used over the winter.
With banana
Ingredients:
- blueberries - 1 kg;
- bananas - 1 kg;
- sugar - 1 kg.
Mash bananas with blueberries, add sugar, boil for 15 minutes and pour into jars. Stir the mass during cooking so that it does not burn.
With spices
Some housewives love spicy jam. For this, cinnamon, rosemary, mint, oregano, ginger, barberry and other spices are suitable. They are chosen to taste and added at the end of the boil.
Sugarless
People with high blood sugar should not eat foods that contain sugar. Therefore, it is better to cook blueberry jam without this ingredient. It can be replaced with honey or sweeteners. But you can just boil the chopped berries until thick and then distribute the jam to the jars.
With lemon
Lemon gives blueberry jam a good taste. And also its juice acts as a preservative. You can add only juice or all of the lemon, chopped in a blender.
How to store blueberry jam
Blueberry jam keeps well in sealed jars if both jars and lids have been sterilized well. To prevent the lid from rusting, it is covered with a cloth or film and tied.
In this form, well-cooked jam can be stored for 2-3 years in a basement or closet.
If jam has been made using instant recipes, it is best to store it in the refrigerator and use it quickly.
Making blueberry jam is very simple. Therefore, housewives always try to prepare it for the winter so that they have vitamins on the table all year round.
